The most common risk factor for mixed bacterial and fungal keratitis was ocular trauma, and the most common combination was Staphylococcus epidermidis and Fusarium species. Usually, patients with mixed bacterial and fungal keratitis have poor prognosis. Thus, when the infectious keratitis is running an atypical course or found unresponsive to the initial medical treatment, the possibility of a mixed infection by bacterial and fungal organisms should be considered.
Purpose: To compare the efficacy of 0.1%, 0.18%, and 0.3% hyaluronic acid (HA) artificial tear in the treatment of experimental dry eye (EDE).Methods: EDE was established in female C57BL/6 mice through an air draft and subcutaneous scopolamine injection. The mice were divided into 5 groups according to topical treatment regimens (n = 5 each): EDE control, balanced salt solution (BSS), preservative-free 0.1% HA, 0.18% HA, and 0.3% HA. The tear film break-up time (TBUT) and corneal fluorescein staining scores were measured 5, 10, 14, 21, and 28 days after treatment. The corneal smoothness scores were measured. In addition, periodic acid–Schiff (PAS) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were performed.Results: The values for TBUT and corneal fluorescein staining showed greater improvements in all the HA groups (P < 0.05) than in the EDE and BSS groups after 10 days of treatment. Mice treated with 0.3% HA showed a more significant improvement in all clinical parameters than did those in the EDE control, BSS, 0.1% HA, and 0.18% HA groups (all P < 0.05) after 28 days of treatment. The goblet cell counts were higher in the 0.3% and 0.18% HA groups than in the 0.1% HA group. The number of TUNEL-positive cells was the lowest in the 0.3% HA group.Conclusions: In EDE, 0.3% HA artificial tears are more effective than the 0.1% and 0.18% HA in improving tear film instability and ocular surface staining and irregularity, in increasing the number of conjunctival goblet cells, and in decreasing corneal epithelial apoptosis.
Recent studies have documented that Janus-activated kinase (JAK)–signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway can modulate the apoptotic program in a myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) model. To date, however, limited studies have examined the role of JAK3 on myocardial I/R injury. Here, we investigated the potential effects of pharmacological JAK3 inhibition with JANEX-1 in a myocardial I/R model. Mice were subjected to 45 min of ischemia followed by varying periods of reperfusion. JANEX-1 was injected 1 h before ischemia by intraperitoneal injection. Treatment with JANEX-1 significantly decreased plasma creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase activities, reduced infarct size, reversed I/R-induced functional deterioration of the myocardium and reduced myocardial apoptosis. Histological analysis revealed an increase in neutrophil and macrophage infiltration within the infarcted area, which was markedly reduced by JANEX-1 treatment. In parallel, in in vitro studies where neutrophils and macrophages were treated with JANEX-1 or isolated from JAK3 knockout mice, there was an impairment in the migration potential toward interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), respectively. Of note, however, JANEX-1 did not affect the expression of IL-8 and MCP-1 in the myocardium. The pharmacological inhibition of JAK3 might represent an effective approach to reduce inflammation-mediated apoptotic damage initiated by myocardial I/R injury.
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